Improvement in the manufacture of illuminating gas from petroleum



WILLIAM H. SPENCER.

Improvement in the Manufacture of HIumin ating Gas from Petroleum.

Patented Feb.20, 1872.

No. i23,950.

UNITED STATES PATENT @FFICE.

WILLIAM H. SPENCER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ILLUMINATING GAS FROM PETROLEUM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 123,950, dated February 20, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. SPENCER, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Manufacturing Illuminating Gas; and the following is declared to be a correct description of the same.

A jet of steam has been directed uponliquid h drocarbon, both in the mass and when running through a pipe in a small stream, and the steam has been superheated and the products have usually passed into a retort and been exposed to heat for decomposing the vapors and making a permanent gas. NVhere steam under a high pressure is employed, the expansion of the issuingjet causes a decrease in the tem- .perature, and it the steam is suiiiciently hot to form a permanent gas out of the less easily vaporized portion of the petroleum there will be a loss of the more easily vaporized portion by the decomposition of the carbon and the formation of carbonic oxide. Myinvention is made for producing an illuminating gas from liquid hydrocarbon by the direct action of superheated steam. The liquid hydrocarbon is exposed to a current of superheated steam, which decomposes and forms a permanentgas out of a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon, and the remaining portions of such liquid being condensed and subsequently treated by superheated steam at a higher temperature. In this manner the liquid hydrocarbon will be converted into an illuminating gas at successive stages without loss by excessive heat or by the production of a large residuum of tar.

In the drawing, the apparatus employed is represented in elevation, some of the parts being in section.

Steam is supplied from a boiler, a,in quantity regulated by the cock I), and passes through the super-heater 0, over the fire (I, and issues by thejet e. Contiguous to this jet is an opening from the pipe f that admits by the cock 9 a regulated supply of petroleum or other liquid hydrocarbon from a suitable tank or reservoir, h. The superheated steam instantly vaporizes the liquid hydrocarbon, and drives the vapors toward the gas-holder 7c, and at the same time decomposes a certain portion of the vapor,

forming therefrom a fixed gas, but the temperature is regulated by the flow of the steam or the heat of the superheater in proportion to the amount of liquid hydrocarbon supplied, so that there will not be any injurious effects that would result from a high temperature of superheated steam upon the more volatile portions of the liquid hydrocarbon. The gases and vapors pass by the pipel into the gasholder It, and the vapors are condensed, and the liquid escapes by the pipe m into a suitable vessel, 12, to be subsequently supplied in a stream to the action of superheated steam at a higher temperature to decompose another portion of the liquid hydrocarbon, and in this manner the operations are repeated until all the hydrocarbon liquid, except a small quantity 0t tarry material, is decomposed and made into illuminating gas. The coil of the pipe I in the water of the gas-holder makes a good condenser, and at the same time the said gasholder is kept warm.

I claim as my invention- 1. superheated steam directed into contact with liquid hydrocarbon for decomposing a portion of such liquid to form an illuminating gas, and condensing the remaining hydrocarbon-vapors for subsequent treatment at ahigln r temperature by superheated steam, as set forth.

2. The condensing-tube lin the water of the gasholder, in combination with the tube f and superheated steam jet e, substantially as set forth.

3. A superheatin g apparatus to which steam is admitted in a regulated quantity by a cock, in combination with a delivery-tube, a jet, and a pipe supplying liquid hydrocarbon in variable quantities, regulated by a cock, so that the supply of liquid hydrocarbon and steam can both be regulated and the proper temperature of the steam maintained to decompose only a portion of the liquid hydrocarbon, as set forth.

Signed by me this 8th day of December, A.

WM. H. SPENCER.

Witnesses GEO. T. PINCKNEY, Guns. E. SMITH. 

